Brown Bear - Ursus Arctos
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There are eight different species of bear: brown bears, American black bears, giant panda bears, sloth bears, polar bears, Asiatic black bears, sun bears and spectacled bears. The following information will focus on the brown bears, which are also called Grizzly or Kodiak bears. Brown bears are of various size and color from region to region. The grizzled coats of the brown bears living in the western portion of the United States gave them the name "Grizzly". The so-named Kodiak bears from the northwestern part of North America are the largest of the brown bears. Brown bears can be easily distinguished from the black bears they often live among by their upturned snouts, humped shoulders, smaller ears and longer fur and claws. The male brown bear grows larger than the female, growing as much as five feet high when standing on all fours. However, when standing on two legs, a brown bear can tower up to nine feet high and large males can be close to one thousand pounds. Although they usually lope around slowly, a charging brown bear can reach a surprising speed of 30 miles per hour if threatened. Brown bears are solitary animals when they are not raising cubs and they will travel a great distance for food. The exception is in areas where food is concentrated and can be easily attained, such as a stream where fish are spawning. In these cases, bears will often feast side-by-side. Brown bears depend much more upon their sense of smell than their hearing or sight to locate food or survey their surroundings. During the coldest months, brown bears will sleep for long periods inside caves, hollows or even dead trees, emerging once again when the weather turns warm. This is called hibernation and its purpose is to conserve energy during a time when the bear would be least able to find food or keep warm. Just like their size and coloration, the diet of the brown bears also varies depending upon their location. The brown bear is an omnivore, which means that they eat both meat and vegetation. Vegetation accounts for the majority of the diet for most brown bears. They will eat underground roots and stems, pine nuts and berries. The meat they consume ranges in size from as small as a grub or rodent, to as large as a horse or bison. When they're in season, trout and salmon are also an important and consistent food source for the brown bear. Brown bears can be found in the grassy wilderness and mountains of North America, Asia and Europe. But their numbers have been greatly reduced. The largest populations of brown bears today are located in Canada, Alaska and Russia. Less than 1000 brown bears are left in the lower 48 states and the vast majority of those are protected in national parks, like Glacier or Yellowstone. Because they breed slowly, brown bears cannot easily rebound from the losses their population have faced. The female reaches maturity between four to ten years of age and will have an average of just two cubs every four years. The brown bears generally mate in late spring or early summer. The young cubs are born in the mother's den after a gestation period of 220 days, sometime between January and March. Cubs are born while the mother is in hibernation. The mother will then stay with her cubs inside the den until May or June. These cubs will remain with the mother bear for anywhere between 18 months to four and a half years. The brown bear lives about 30 years in the wild and can survive as long as 50 years in captivity. |
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